CEO Insights Magazine

Brandfizz is a strategy led industry leading full service Advertising, and Digital Marketing Agency. Based in Mumbai and Delhi. The company works closely with top brands and companies In India, Africa, Philippines, Singapore, USA ,UAE and UK. Abhimanyu Mishra is the Chief Creative Officer of Brandfizz the Digital arm of creative hot shop Vishaka Communications and under his guidance, the company has been able to break new business frontiers and develop into a well recognized brand both in the Indian and international market. Abhimanyu has got immense industry experience and leveraging 'Idea' as the pivot of marketing , been able to offer the best value for money to clients while building some of the most successful brands in over 6 countries.

In an exclusive interview with CEO INSIGHTS, Abhimanyu talks more about his professional journey and the unique business operations of Brandfizz.

1.Please tell us about your educational and professional journey?
I wasn't really set on advertising as a career but I have always been creative and have been an avid reader from a very young age itself. My father was a journalist and I was able to read and analyze his writing and feed on over 20,000 books that he owned. Having topped my post graduate classes in the universities of Delhi and Poona and teaching graduate students in Delhi University, I was all set for a career in academics .

Then, I got selected through UPSC to work under the centralgovernment's broadcasting corporation. The creativity bug prevented me from taking up that job. Also, I had started writing in newspapers during that time as well. I was primarily writing about films and I have reviewed a plethora of Indian and international films in leading newspapers like Hindustan Times, The Sun, Eastern Times. I was also the resident critic during the IFFI in Delhi. Then advertising happened I got an opportunity to work for Mudra Group as a trainee copywriter. And within a year itself, our team won seven or eight awards and built some strong brands from scratch.

And in less than three years, I fast tracked to become associate creative director at Everest(Saatchi & Saatchi) and then Creative Director at TBWA handling brands like Sony, Uncle chips etc.

Then, I moved as creative director to McCann Erickson and I was over

seeing their entire branding operations of Reckitt & Benkiser in South Asia apart from being the lead creative person on brands like Nestle, GM, Dabur, MMTC, Maggi, Nescafe.

Soon after I co-founded Vishaka Communications with my colleague from McCann Erickson Bishakha Saha. Brandfizz is the digital and social media vertical of Vishaka Communications. VCPL was Bishakha's idea, she founded the company as she was the one withthe entrepreneurial bug.

This was followed by Contrapunto Communications which along with co-founder Avinash Nanda is one of the biggest advertising film production companies in India. Under that banner I have co directed over 300 TVCs for leading brands in over 6 countries. I have also written 3 Multiple award winning films Silver Gandhi has made a record with 30 prestigious National & International Awards, including the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival Award 2021. and 'The History of Tea' a docudrama that won 13 National & International awards, including the Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival Award 2021 & the Chhatrapati Shivaji International film festival Award 2021.and award winning Hindi feature film 'Two Desires and a Dream.'

2.How do you combine Strategy with creativity ?
As the creative director, I direct the overall output that we generate as a brand consulting firm for all our clients. I am always strategy driven and this helps me to come up with idea led innovative business strategies. Because of my Management background I am also able to better understand the requirements of our clients and offer them the best possible creative solutions. For me Idea is King. Technology is slave.

We have been operating in Africa for over a decade now, apart from India. We also deal with giant corporations and we have been able to create multi million dollar brands for all of them.

We have built Huge Indian Brands from scratch Like Luminous, Okaya, Frankfinn and Campus We have also created iconic ad campaigns with celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar and Amrish Puri, Navjot Singh Sidhu to name a few. We are able to offer the best possible results by combining strategic insights fused with cutting edge creativity to our clients and this has heled us stay at top of our game.

3.How do you strive to offer the best services to your clients?
We always prioritize on building strong consumer relationships and we make sure that we are transparent and open. We work on building continuous brand values and push them to be moving targets. Hand hold them through the

entire launch & stabilization phase. We act as their partners and by repeatedly demonstrating success the trust that we build with them becomes a primary catalyst for our success. They grow. We grow.

4. What qualities does a creative director need to be successful according to you. Also, what kind of a leader are you?
I try and understand the requirements of our clients and am forever fishing for universal human insights, I will look at their offerings and check whether there is a need for the product and if there is no need, we will create a need for that product in the market. We also prioritize on creating innovative ideas and after that, we will leverage technology and other mediums to execute the ideas in the best possible way . like the Salt Brand we launched in 4 countries in Africa. We led a huge school programme involving 10 thousand schools with over a million students. We. Promoted the idea of iodated salt and mental growth in children. It is a huge success and we are the leading salt brand in 2 of those countries

As far as my leadership style goes, I always keep my doors open for the employees and I have been like this even while I was working for the world's numero uno agency. Anybody in the organization can walk in and freely talk about their ideas. This helps me to lead the organization in the best possible way. I am also happy to see my colleagues succeed and this is my management style. I also try to make my employees be stress free.

5.Can you talk more about some of the milestones in your career?
I have written two feature films and one docudrama. And have won numerous awards both national and international. I have also written and directed over 300 corporate, advertising and educational. Our films for Luminous with Amrish Puri & Navjot Singh, Sohaali Khan for Fraankfinn and P T Usha for Okaya literally built those brands. I have also written over a 100 jingles and songs for Hindi feature films.

For our company, we have launched new brands won numerous awards and I was the lead creative person in launching some of the key Nike, and General Motors, Dettol, Mortein, Lizol ad campaigns in India from McCann Erickson. We have been able to work with some of the biggest companies both Indian and international who are from different industry verticals. The quality of our work and the relations that we have built with our clients have helped us to not just create but also maintain an impressive clientele. Apart from companies, we have also worked for some of the top Bollywood celebrities, Spiritual Gurus & Healers, Newspapers like Dainik Jagran, Prabhat Khabar, Griha Lakshmi, India Today, Zee TV, MNC Banks etc.

Abhimanyu Mishra, Chief Creative Officer, Brandfizz
A pioneering business leader with a keen eye for branding and advertising. It is his passion to offer the best creative ideas to their clients.